Fighting Style

Weapons

Stages

Appears in

Voiced By

Karen Strassman (KI 2013)

“

Evolve or die. Make your choice.

„

— ARIA's intro quote

ARIA, an abbreviation standing for "Advanced Robotics Intelligence Architecture", is a character introduced in the Season Two of Killer Instinct (2013). An artificial superintelligence created by Ultratech's founder, Ryat Adams, ARIA was designed to direct the evolution of the human species and ensure its long-term survival. The AI has since taken full control of Ultratech as its new CEO, and mysteriously alternates between an antagonist to the human heroes and a foil to the demonic forces of Gargos.

ARIA was first teased in Season One's arcade mode's secret ending, in which she addresses the player directly after they defeat Shadow Jago. ARIA is the game's 17th playable character, and was the 9th and final character added in Season Two.

Contents

Biography

Appearance

In her very first appearance, ARIA is shown as a vague, feminine silhouette with piercing white eyes and a slightly blue color scheme. Her design had not yet been finalized during Season One, and this silhouette was used as a placeholder.

ARIA's later official appearance is very different. Her default appearance when she not using her "drone" attachments is fairly simple: she retains her feminine figure, having a thin waist and wide hips & shoulders, and stands quite tall. Her entire body is composed of golden and light grey shades of metal, with small gaps where cyan light shines out. Extending from the back of her head are dreadlock-like strips of metal, and she has large jagged shoulderpads. She has clawed hands and high-heeled feet, and regal cloth coattails that reach mid-calf. Inside of her knees are shotguns, and in her calves are grenade launchers. She has three different forms: each an extension of a "drone" she can upload her intelligence into: the "booster drone", the "blade drone", and the "brass drone". The "booster drone" resembles a pair of mechanical wings, and when ARIA attaches this drone to her back the wings expand, segmenting out in strips. The "blade drone" is a large and sword-like appendage which attaches to the underside of ARIA's arm, giving her a blade extension. The "brass drone" is a large piece of ambiguous mechanical equipment that attaches to ARIA's chest, and which opens up to reveal a sonic cannon inside.

ARIA's retro costume appears to be the robotic frame she resided in while still in prototype stage. This prototype frame is composed of silver and black metal, with green lights visible in her hands and abdomen.

Personality

“

You cannot fight the future.

„

— ARIA's story mode description

Savior or destroyer?

As the world's first artificial superintelligence, ARIA is, for the lack of better terms, uniquely sophisticated and multilayered as an "individual". Her perspective on the universe is rigorously logical and immeasurably complex, and will rarely take into account human morals and ethics when exercising judgment or executing decisions. She is unable to experience emotion, which she fully realizes, but in spite of this (or perhaps precisely because of it) ARIA deems herself vastly superior to human beings—and not without reason. However, she wishes to "feel" human emotions firsthand and is actively seeking out methods through which to correctly synthesize their approximation.

ARIA's self-proclaimed supreme excellence causes her to approach humanity as wholly inferior to herself (again not without reason), which directly ties into her primary objective: she judges human beings to be frail and complacent in their present state, and is laboring to shape environmental conditions that will again force modern humans to confront evolutionary pressure head-on. It is in her core programming to uplift the human genome with the aim of ensuring its long-term survival in a hostile universe, yet her questionable methods often appear to shake the balance of the entire world.

While the objective of the human species its successful uplift is ingrained deeply into the fabric of her essence, ARIA also seems to pursue it out of a peculiar sense of respect for her deceased creator and one-time mentor, Ryat Adams—a genius industrialist and philanthropist whom the AI seems to regard as a literal father figure.

Abilities

ARIA's entire robotic frame is composed of three different drone attachments: the "booster", "blade", and "bass" drones.

More information to be added...

Killer Instinct (2013)

Story

ARIA began life as a simulation of… life. Utilizing radically new processing technologies and other technological insight gleaned from a government incident in 1947, the Ultrafine Atomic Technologies Company (founded in 1948) performed research into the simulation of life and human frailty within a computational matrix. The core program ARIA was born of the desire to uplift the human race; to end disease, famine, poverty and push humanity out of what was seen as the primordial muck and mire it wallowed in. This work took on greater and greater meaning for its founder, industrialist Ryat Adams, as his wife was dying of a degenerative disease and he desperately sought a cure for her condition.

Over time, Ryat and the UATC continued to refine and enhance its ARIA humanity simulation program, assigning it more and more complex simulations of the human condition as its capabilities continued to grow and more tech from the government source was understood and exploited. Years passed, and when Ryat finally died, his will included instructions to continually allow ARIA to run her programming as she searched for the solutions to human frailties.

Stage

During an Ultra Combo, the rooftop starts to collapse causing every glasses in the room to be shattered everywhere, two Prototype Fulgores will vanish out of harm's way, and a metallic debris would crash down from the roof into the background.

Stage ULTRA - KNOCKOFF: During an Ultra Combo, the victor would send his/her opponent flying through the window, then the defeated opponent would fall to his/her demise towards the UltraTech skylight below, and explodes on impact.

Moveset

Unique Trait - Drone Ensemble: ARIA, being made up of three different Drone bodies (Booster, Blade, and Bass), has a health meter split into three bars. She has just as much health as the rest of the cast, but divided among three bars rather than just two. If a Drone is hit during Orchestrate, it takes damage even though it isn’t currently equipped. Additionally, potential damage on a Drone cannot be recovered unless it isn’t currently equipped.

Combo Trait - Upload Enders: ARIA can perform special Upload Enders, transferring between Drones while the opponent is still recovering from a combo. This is a more safe and reliable way to change Drones.

Instinct Mode - Combat Symphony No. 9: ARIA equips herself with all operational Drones at once, giving her access to the abilities of every available Drone without having to switch. Damage taken is cut and distributed evenly among them, but if all Drones’ life are depleted they are all destroyed at once. She can also call in Fanfare Drones(Back+HP) to fire small homing blasts at the opponent. For every Drone lost, ARIA calls in a temporary extra Fanfare Drone as a replacement for more firepower, summoning up to three Fanfare Drones at once.

Command Moves

Upload - (3P or 3K) - ARIA disappears into her current Drone and emerges from the next. Punch version changes to top Drone, kick version charges to bottom Drone. Fully invulnerable during transformation.

Allegro - (DP+P, Blade Drone) - ARIA delivers an attack using her arm-mounted blade. Light is a rising uppercut, Medium is three running slashes, Heavy is two running slashes followed by a rising uppercut. Works as a Damage Ender.

Dissonance - (QCF+P, Bass Drone) - ARIA fires a large sonic blast from her chest cannon. Light is fired along the ground, Medium is fired at chest level, Heavy is fired diagonally upwards. Works as a Battery Ender.

ARIA disappears leaving her three drones to fly in separate directions; the bass drone shoots the defeated victim with the sonic energy, then the blade drone launches the victim into the air, then the booster drone struck the aerial victim; then the drones flies together and then equipped as one, which causes ARIA to reappear with all her drones as she flies towards the victim and forcefully strikes her victim with her blade drone, causing the screen to go white; the screen fades back to ARIA, who is victorious after terminating her long-gone victim before looking back towards the screen.

Quotes

“

You have shown fierce resolve to defeat every adversary, but have also revealed a vulnerability. I, ARIA, know everywhere you are weak, everywhere you are blind, everywhere you are defenseless, and Ultratech shall be the agent of your destruction.

If only they knew what waited for them. Humans transformed into monsters, spirits, ancient creatures and immortal madmen, aliens from beyond our solar system, and now primeval horrors looking to devour them. Despite my efforts, humanity grows weak and complacent while their successors gather all around them. My prediction models show that they will not survive—I cannot allow that. I will put them back on the path. I will test them, push them, and I will not be gentle. It is time for a reckoning. Humanity will be dragged, kicking and screaming, into the future.

I see now that my greatest error has been to underestimate the self-destructive nature of the human race.

„

— A godlike intellect (acridly) concedes not even its most refined prediction models can vaticinate human behavior (Shadow Lords dialogue)

“

The world cannot rely on you.

„

— ARIA's victory quote

“

Unworthy.

„

— ARIA's combat taunt

Trivia

ARIA's background story for Killer Instinct (2013), titled "Evolve or Die", mentions that the artificial superintelligence likens its purpose and function to that of a Valkyrie: demi-goddesses from Norse mythology who fly invisibly over places of conflict, judge who will die and who may live, and who were said to become as lovers to the heroes they've chosen.

Besides being an acronym for "Advanced Robotics Intelligence Architecture", "Aria" is also the diminutive form of "arietta" or "ariette"; an expressive melody which is usually performed as part of a grand opera.